Tube connection



Oct. 4, 1927. 1,644,188

c. G. HAwLEY TUBE CONNECTION Filed June 21, 1922 oqoooooooool o qoooooool 'my @www Patented oct. 4, 1927.

'UNTD oniin'riiis G'Itnnntneimiin 'o'ii` entende, I'i-Iis-,Ae`sIGNoR tr'o nooom'rivn FIR-E4 Box COMPANY, oF CHICAGQA ILL-mois, A ooRPoRA'ii'o'N or DELAWARE;

TUBE CONNECT-Iori.

Application ,filed J'unefll, Seralll'o.

Primarily my invention Vrelates toinip'rjoveinents in thel vso-calle'd Nicholson thermic siphon and the method whereby. it installed in a locomotive fire box.v yThesec'alled siphon is a substantially triangular .Water-steaming Wall which occupiesa vertical longitudinal position in thetirebox.

Y th'ejoints between the upper andlower parts Y 'or iiu'e sheet. Any motion(l between the of the Siphon and Vthe lciotvnand throat sheets must Vbe steam tight, and iiiid that the Whole assembly of parts must be so yjoined together or related as to admit of a.

considerable difference of expansion yand contraction Without injury to the thicknietal sheets from which both Siphon aiidlfireboxai'e-ormed.

The object otthis invention isto provide a' siphoned iireboX Istructure which yshall be virtually immune `from the effectsv ofv eX- fp'ansio'n and contraction. Y*

My inventionwill be readily understood on reference to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this speciicationtand in which Fig. 1 is Y a Avertical longitudinal section of a typical locomotive iirebox con-k taining a thermicsiphon, is installed in' conformity with` this present invention. Fig,v 2 is 5ivertical korossesection substantiallyon the line 2-2 of Fig. l. Fig, 3 is an enlarged vertical section of the throat portion of the boiler, showing how the neck of the siphon is joined thereto.V Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate tWo other shapes inwhich the connection may be made as required to suit thesame to lthroat-sheets and siplion necks in diiierent angular relation.

' Commonly the Siphon neck isy `directly Wel-ded to the margins ot' the openingk in the throat or flue sheet of therebox or jin the opening of 'adiaph-ragm portion which is inserted in an'dbeoome's aipart of -the throat 'siphon Vand the remainder of `the iii'ebox is sure l'to be localized in that connection, faand" ultimately either the weld breaks, or, due to y lconstant flexing', the throatfsheet is lcracked,

radjacent vte the neck'ef lthe siphon. vI do lnot mean to that ythis is a frequent occurrence, but rather yto imply it must be expectedv to occur at soine rtime land that the vtime of its occurrence can never lbe exactly predicted;

. The basis of this present invention resides the conception that a yrigid joint need notjbe, and, indeed, shouldnot be, employed as the connection between the Siphon neck and the' throat orflue sheet of ,thesfirebox ni 'q'jrd'iiie with this invention, IA substitute a joint which permits of a relative movement between the' parts', which, though slight,A serves to vabserb, all expansion and' contraction diii'eren'ces@ thereby relieving all p`art s` fromV Ibre'akiiig 'str'ai'ns. V`This -I jacconiplish withoutresort to nicely machined parts; and, in such' manner, tliat,fthough an actual slip. joint is Jfoiined, that joint is always tightand is of great durability. I makea particular point of the 'fact that this invention is so contrived that it vmay be constructed and a'ppli'edlby or'dina'ry boiler makers and by 'methodswcommonly in that 'trade v.and "withoutl line or aecura'terassignificati@ ,machinists .theneck of the Siphon' is 'tubular 4o rl cylindrical. As ',vvill beat o'n'ce afpvpaient 'on eianiinat'in of the* diiz'ivvings,` I [take advantage 'of the Cylindrical ffo'rin'of 4the vSiphon neck to `"enel'fse it 'Within a l'metal sleeve, fin'teilpsg r2.ifc oppe'r ferrule. To be ma, the anni@ is; iii-Sapins@ with@ v'neck and 'the heavy viii'e'tal sleeve is 'then heated and shrunk en tli'e ii'errujle,A thus injsiinifg ati-ghtrjemi. n win be understood thatthe metal's'le'eye 'is o 'the saine, 'or so nearly 'the' saine; material as the thi-oat she/ et l ofthe `ireboxA as to permit itto be soundly Welded tothe throat 'sheet bythe common v autogenous Welding process. Thus7 I confr've a. finir and sabst'fi'iitaiiyy vrigid. 'connecti'on 4between the throat orjlue rsheet fand the metalsleeve, and vleavefthe neck free to move in the sleeve-'Without hindranceexcept -by 'thel errule or packing of' copper or the like. It will :be understood that "the sliding movement ofthe neckinthe sleeve y is almost imperceptible, but nevertheless must be permitted Ain some such manner -as here described if the `ultima-te breaking of yvelds and cracking ofsheets-isftobe avoided. lt is also to Vbe understoodgth'at tlie'lue or throat sheet is capable ofztaling -lip-most of the expansion and contraction movements of the siphon, which latter are admir ably and suitably communicated to the throat sheet through the medium of the relatively wide collar or sleeve.

The details of the drawings may be briefly referred to as follows: The drawings illustrate a locomotive iireboX containing two siphons S. As shown, these open through and hang from the firebox crown sheet 2. The neck S1 of the siphon, which maybe either straight or curved, is preferably of such length as to kpenetrate the water space or throat 3l of the boiler, passing through an opening in the throat sheet 4l of the fireboX. This portion 4 is sometimes referred to as the lower part of the flue sheet. As shown, the throat sheet and flue sheet 5 are preferably made from a single sheet. I have not thought it necessary to illustrate a fireboX of the combustion chamber type, as the use of the latter in no wise modifies this invention.

Referring now to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the lower end of the siphon neck S is equipped first with a thin ferrule or sleeve 6, preferably made of copper, and that the heavy metal sleeve 7 directly encloses the lower end of the siphon neck and its ferrule. As before stated, the sleeve 7 is heated and shrunk on the neck of the siphon before the latter is placed in position in the fireboX. The throat sheet l contains an opening large enough to admit the sleeve 7 and after the siphon is correctly positioned the sleeve and throat sheet are united by an autogeneous weld 8. This weld is applied progressively' and the heat incident' to the welding process is not sufficient to disturb the tightness 'of the sleeve on the packing or ferrule 6. By preference, I flange the inner end 6 ofthe ferrule against the end of the siphon neck to prevent the possibility of the blowing out of the ferrule by pressure within the throat or. water space 8. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that this construction forms a slip joint notwithstanding the compara tively rough surfaces of the siphon neck and sleeve, the soft metal ferrule always adjusting itself to thev movement of those parts.

l/Vhen the siphon neck approaches the throat sheet la at an acute angle as illustrated in Fig. 5, the sleeve 7a is preferably made of such length as to preserve its perpendicularity on the siphon neck, notwithstanding the angualr position at which the sleeve 7 a is welded in the throat sheet 4a. However, if desired, the sleeve may be trimmed or cut to the restrictive form illustrated by the two dotted lines'tb 4J.

Fig. 4 illustrates the form of the slidable connection when constructed in a fireboX f having a so-called straight or vertical throat sheet ,40, in which case the neck 'Sa of the siphon is usually sharply bent lor curved.

But Fig. 4C is more especially intended to illustrate a modification in the form of the copper ferrule. I have here shown in detail the particular copper' ferrule which I prefer to use in all cases. It is made in two parts. That is, instead of a single copper sleeveI employ two sleeves 6a and 6b, one within the other. These are formed as a unit and are thus `placed on the neck of the siphon-and together receive the compressive force of the shrinking collar or sleeve B, and so far as serving as a packing, thetwo parts of the ferrule may be considered as one. But, in event the siphon neck moves within the sleeve 7b the two parts of the ferrule will slide one on the other and always maintain a very tight joint.

As a rule, both firebox and siphon are made of steel sheets and the welded-in sleeve 7 is likewise made of fireboX steel. This construction, therefore, readily' lends itself to the process of autogenouswelding, and yet the actual joint between the siphon neck and the throat or flue sheet of the iirebox is relieved from direct dependence upon the au togeneous weld. v

I have not thought it necessary to illus trate that modification ofmy invention in which the sleeve 7 is flanged and riveted, in

stead of welded, to the throat sheet. That construction is much less desirable than the form herein shown and has several other disadvantages. v Y

One marked advantage of the present invention is that a siphon may be installed in a rebox with a minimum disturbance of the stay-bolts 9 in the throat of the boiler. This is well shown in Figs. 2 and 8. v

The wash-out plug 10 is positiorfed in the' outside throat sheetv of the boiler to afford access to the interior of the water-leg 3 and the siphon neck. Y

As will be apparent to boiler makers, ythe copper ferrule in each case may be made longer than the heavy metal sleeve, and, if need be, the ferrule may be readily calked from the interior of the fireboX. The outer end of the ferrule may be calked through the wash-out plug hole.y

Obviouslyv my invention has a certain range of adaptation to fire-boxes and water- Y walls of other forms Vthan herein shown.

Having 4thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. In combination with a -re boX sheet having an opening therein, a tubular member having an end extending therethrough, a ferrule of relatively soft metal snugly fitting vupon said end of said tubular member, and a heavy, relatively hard metal ring embracing said ferrule and `lodged thereon and rigidly attached in saidl opening in said fire box sheet. i

A2. In combination with a fire ybox sheet Si (l having an opening therein, a tubular member having an end extending therethrough', a ferrule of relatively soft metal snugly fitting upon said end of said tubular member, and a heavy, relatively hard ring embracing and shrunk upon said errule and rigidly Welded in said opening insaid fire box sheet.

3. In combination with a fire box sheet having an opening therein, a tubular memheavy relatively hard metal ring shrunky upon the ferrule and Welded in sald opening.` In testimony whereof, Iaiiix my signature.

CHARLES GILBERT HAWLEY. 

